I have been reading the blogs about the news from New Orleans, and like anything else in modern society, it's the fault of the Right. Or the Left. Depends on who's talking.
I really should write down the name of the blogs I surf, but often, the things that strike me as stupid, at first, don't.
I ran across one blog, Blah Freaking Blah, that had this to say when W made an annoucement that he was saddened by the events in New Orleans; "Lose the platitudes and DO SOMETHING. Idiot." The author then asked why isn't the National Guard guarding us? In a latter post: "This is YOUR country George. People are dying who should NOT be dying. They've lost everything. They're hungry and thirsty and scared. They are mostly black and mostly poor. HELP THEM. You were supposedly so worried about freeing the Iraqis from a dictator...who frees us from you? You sent the military to Iraq. We need them in New Orleans."
Yesterday, I saw a news story about a interview with a woman in new Orleans wondering why the government wasn't taking care of her. You know, the government she ignored when she decided not to evacuate.
The common theme in these reactions to the crisis is that the govenrment is a parent and should look out for us, should take care of us, should clothe us, feed us, and house us. That's a concept that truly scares me.
that allows the government to tell us what to do and what we can't do. A perfect Bill O'Reilly state, where one person rules.
posted by hiikeeba at
7:10 AM
7 Comments:
Many of the people who "ignored" the evacuation COULDN'T leave. No transportation, no money, no where to go. If the government puts out a mandatory evactuation, they need to make it possible for each person to leave, whether it be buses or planes or supersonic pack mules. That was where this government failed the greatest, not at the "lack" of response afterward (certainly the rescuers should have unlimited power to get over all the obsticles Katrina put in their path).
Let me get this straight: the Government is supposed to be everywhere in a 180 square mile area, providing aid to hundreds of thousands at the same time? Before the governor asks for help? And mandatory is still mandatory.
A lot of exaggerations and blanketed statements here. If you're interested in hearing my take on this, please go here.
no where to go is no reason to ignore a mandatory evacuation. they had no transportation because Mayor Ray Nagin did not order the cities school buses to load people up. About 200 buses, that could have evacuated 13,000 per trip, sat and got flooded because Nagin didn't act. It's not Bush's fault that Nagin failed, but people are making it out to be his fault. It's not Bush's fault that Governor Blanco was slow in asking for Federal help. Nagin himself wondered about that.
I'm not saying it is Bush's fault. But if you were told to evacuate, and you had no place to go and no means to go somewhere (if you had a place to go), please tell me what you would do?
I also realize their own gov't screwed up big time. But the only thing I'm very confused about (in the Federal sense) is Bush's National Response Plan of 2004.
Have a look at it. It totally contradicts what our Federal Gov't stands for.
And FEMA is there now! Again, they're not supposed to be, right?
My whole point is that the person who did not authorize the use of New Orleans school buses to evacuate the city bears most of the blame. 200 school buses could have evacuated 13,000 people, maybe a few of those that died, were left to be flooded, leaking oil and gas into the water. Why isn't the Left outraged by that? Could it be that it's because he's a Democrat?
FEMA has historically been on the scene of every hurricane and flood. Why shouldn't they be there?
Thanks for the link to the document. At 400 pages, it's far too long for me to comment on now.
Well, the right is saying that FEMA has no responsibility in natural disasters, so that's what I was surprised that they were there.
It's all just very confusing to me.
In that 400 page document that I sent you on the last reply, all you need to look at is the Preface.
Yes, I'm liberal and I, too, am outraged as to why it took the governor 24 hours to make a decision. She had to check with her lawyer - which I don't understand what would have happened to her if she didn't.
I think there are a lot of pieces to this puzzle that have still yet to be put in place yet, in my opinion.
But for now, I blame everyone.
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